OfficeMax New Zealand Cuts Emissions by 40% with Electric Vehicle Fleet Transition

OfficeMax New Zealand has cut carbon emissions by nearly 40% by transitioning its entire fleet to electric and hybrid vehicles. This significant reduction underscores the company's commitment to environmental stewardship and aligns with its 2020-2025 Sustainability Strategy.

OfficeMax NZ Slashes Emissions by 40% with EV Fleet and Home Charging Solutions

OfficeMax New Zealand, a workplace solutions specialist has reduced carbon emissions associated with vehicle gasoline consumption by nearly 40% by transitioning its entire fleet to electric vehicles and hybrids, per Scoop.

OfficeMax New Zealand's chief financial officer, Ben Norrie, stated, “The fleet transition underscores our commitment to environmental stewardship through reducing our carbon emissions.” He also mentioned that the company's team has supported the initiative.

“Driving range, charging availability, and reimbursement for home-charging were three areas that we wanted to address with our people from the outset,” he explains.

“Working with our fleet management partner of 10 years, FleetPartners, we were able to provide our people with EVs and hybrids to test drive, which quickly showed them that driving range was not going to be an issue.”

The business also partnered with Jet Charge, an EV infrastructure provider, to install home chargers for employees to charge their corporate vehicles overnight.

“OfficeMax is the first business we have worked with for home charging using Jet Charge Plus, an industry-first EV charging service that allows fleets to dial their EV charging needs up and down to suit,” Jet Charge chief executive Tim Washington stated.

“A major barrier for electrifying fleets in the past has been the absence of employee home charging solutions,” he added.

“OfficeMax has really paved the way on this, as they’ve demonstrated to their people and other corporates that the transition to electric vehicles can be made simple for employees through an at-home charging solution.”

Jet Charge Plus comprises all the components necessary for a fleet to recharge its electric vehicle fleet.

OfficeMax NZ Achieves Major Fuel Savings and Plans Full EV Fleet Transition by 2027

According to Jet Charge (via EVs & Beyond), the company's charging management platform monitors electricity consumption, which has instilled in employees confidence that electricity reimbursement is as straightforward as fuel reimbursement.

The new fleet has significantly reduced the business's fuel consumption, resulting in a savings of 19,298 liters of unleaded from January to April 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

Due to OfficeMax's successful implementation, Norrie is enthusiastic about the future and establishing the foundation for additional emissions reductions. The company plans to transition most of its fleet to electric vehicles within three years.

“We’ve learned a lot over the last year and I am delighted with how our transition has gone. Our people are happy with our momentum in addressing the challenges that our planet is facing and are looking to what’s next.”

OfficeMax's ongoing fleet transition supports the company's 2020-2025 Sustainability Strategy, which has also resulted in converting its LPG-powered forklifts to electric, thereby preventing approximately 123 tCO2e in the first year.

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